I am so thankful for the critical thinking and attention devoted to this
original post.

My dream is to foster a team of dba's who think independently but who
collaborate and work dynamically together to come up with
best-practices, solutions beyond one person might think on their own.

I am challenged in managing different levels of staff, different
environments, consultants and FTE's mixed in an organization that has
not had a strong DBA role to do this.

I appreciate all of your input as it makes me think that my ideals are
reachable and gives me some steps to take in dealing with my employees
better.

I made peace with this young man, I will next give him some issues to
work on - giving him a chance to come to his own solution - then being
accepting and supportive as he walks me through his approach. I will
continously remind myself of the mentoring I love to do.

This has been a fantastic conversation. I hope that everyone following
it has made some time to listen and absorb. Reading some of the
responses, suddenly I've become aware of several things I may be doing
right and several things I probably am doing wrong!

I believe the original poster alluded to several issues which shed light
on important qualities for a DBA and are a challenge to nurture in
others. (By no means am I an expert at this! But talk is therapeutic,
so some thoughts
follow---)

Confidence must be calibrated to experience. Many DBAs are type A
personalities, often justifiably so, but at the outset when they are far
more self-confident than experienced, there can be a tendency to assume
a failure of system, process, management, etc., when nine times out of
ten the cause was human error due to lack of experience. "Your process
does not work" is a great expression of this. This is difficult because
while too much confidence is dangerous, not enough confidence can have
much worse long-term consequences for a person. A solution is to give
that person a mix of assignments, some to build up confidence and others
to force that person to push a little bit beyond their limits and maybe
learn to ratchet back any instinctive "couldn't have been my fault"
reflexes they may have while learning something in the process. IMO,
this is something you can only do so much to address, and when the
situation hasn't changed after twelve months that is when you start
thinking about a staffing change.

Good gut instincts are critical. I don't think there is a more
important quality for an intermediate to senior DBA and it's a must-have
in any sort of production environment. DBAs have to deal with the
unexpected more frequently than many other IT roles. Knowing how to
zero in quickly on the right course of action is critical. Making
quick, accurate, agile and adaptable decisions is critical. Quickly
identifying when the current line of inquiry won't yield the answer is
critical. When in unfamiliar waters, this becomes the difference
between a DBA who solves issues in minutes vs.
one who solves them over days. When developing good instincts, I do not
know any substitute for experience. Install the software. Then tear it
down and install it again. And again. And again. Make mistakes.
Don't make mistakes. Try every option. Make note of every behavior at
every step, and what consequences it led to. Every time it doesn't
work, figure out where to go to fix it. Go through the long, boring and
painful process of opening the TAR or asking for help from your
teammates to fix it. Once its fixed, start all over. Then, months
later when you get a novel error message you haven't seen before,
chances are that something about it will remind you of something you
encountered during "play." That's what good instincts are all about.
>From a mentoring perspective, it's necessary for the manager to find
ways to create an environment where people can play, even during work
hours. It's equally necessary for the DBA to make time outside of those
work hours to continue.

Don't bother with people who regard database administration as a
fancy title and big paycheck that come with minimal responsibilities and
a clock-watcher attitude. This is a competitive field for ambitious and
talented people. At the end of the day, it's a matter of pride in
oneself.
Pride in one's abilities and pride in how others regard him or her. If
a person does not care, they need to pursue a career that is more
vocational in nature. Yes, some DBA roles at some shops can be pretty
mechanical: wait for the red light to light up, then hit the green
button, all day long, week after week. Most DBAs however need to be
faster on their feet, more agile, and prepared for constant and intense
self-directed learning. They often are right there at the junction
between servers, networks, operating systems, application code,
security/regulatory compliance, business continuity, etc. ad nauseum.
That's a huge responsibility and it requires smart, talented and
aggressive people with pride in their jobs, pride in their team and
teammates (AND manager!) and maybe even a competitive bone or two. In
many fields, people can survive and indeed be successful even if they
don't have all the qualities of a successful employee. Less so for the
DBA---you really need to be the total package (or at least want to be)
otherwise you will find yourself marginalized. I don't think this is
adequately explained to many new DBAs, and some more seasoned DBAs tend
to forget it. If you have other quality people, it would be a shame for
them to miss out on your attention because someone else needs so much
micromanaging.

There is some good advice given in this discussion that I agree with.
"If you're still stuck after 30 minutes, ask for help" is excellent
advice.
"Spend at least 30 minutes before asking for help" also is good advice.
I think one strategy is to make this person (even if he is a Jr. DBA) a
master of something--perhaps something simple like installing the
software. Then use his confidence in that one thing as a point of
reference in coaching him and pointing out his [comparative] weakness in
other areas that you want him to work on.

I wholeheartedly agree with the balance of work and play, and finding
work that you enjoy - not just to make money, when possible (not
everyone can be so fortunate). I also find it interesting that some
people think their company owes them a big thank you, as if we are
donating our time or something. Remember, they are paying us, so
perhaps it should be the other way around and we should thank them for
many years of employment - that is as long as they are paying fairly and
treating us well.

Hmm I assume these types could be united.
I personally love technologies and especially Oracle and even more
especially developing some nice apps with it. BUT. I'm also making sure
my employer doesn't employ me too much. He pays me for 8 hours.
Extra hours means extra money or at least (if these are sometimes and
rare) big thanks. I'm learning many things also not only in my working
hours but that's just because I like them, not because I feel obliged to
do that.
Life can be lived only once, there are also other things apart from
work.
I'v seen several people that worked very hard, worked past their
official pension years and lastly when they were laid off, earth didn't
collapse, our country stayed in the same place and even many times their
company didn't say them very big Thank you after so many years of work.
I don't want be like that.

Gints

On 8/4/05, Bellows, Bambi <bbellows_at_usg.com> wrote:
> Bang on!> > I always said there are people in this field because they love the > technology and there are people in this field because it's an easy way

> to make a nice living. I'm in the first category and naturally think > the people in the second are a shallow bunch of twits. The folks in > the second category naturally think that I am a nerd and not fit to > teach their children how to dress.> > Twits.> > Best wishes,> Bambi.